The fact that small bowel cancer is fairly rare has long baffled doctors, but antioxidant-rich foods may increase the risk of it. In addition, colorectal cancer in neighboring and much smaller organs is a leading cause of the high cancer death rate in men and women. But why does he pull?Colon cancerto? Researchers found that mutations themselves are not necessarily the villains in this process, thereby answering this question.
Are antioxidant-rich foods really healthy?
In certain microenvironments, such as the gut, the mutations can actually help the body fight cancer rather than spread it. However, when the gut microbiome produces high levels of metabolites, such as those found in certain bacteria andantioxidant foodssuch as black tea and hot cocoa, it acts as a particularly hospitable environment for mutated genes. This can cause the process of colorectal cancer growth to accelerate. So the research team may have found the reason why only 2% of small intestinal cancers take root, while a whopping 98% of such colon cancers occur in the colon. A main difference between these two organs is the content of intestinal bacteria. The small intestine contains only a few of them, while the large intestine contains a large number.
For this reason, scientists pay attention to the role that theMicrobiome for healthplays, getting more and more attention. This applies to both the positive effects and harms in supporting and promoting disease. For example, TP53 is a gene that is found in every cell. It produces a protein called p53, which acts as a barrier to the cell and suppresses genetic mutations in the cell. However, when p53 becomes damaged, it no longer protects the cell. Quite the opposite: it drives cancer and helps tumors to spread and grow. To test their theory that the intestinal flora is involved, the researchers introduced mutated p53 proteins into the intestine. Amazingly, the small intestine responded by converting the mutated p53 cancer pathogen back into normal p53. These thus turned into tumor suppressor proteins that were able to suppress cancer growth better than healthy p53 proteins.
Study results
So what is it about this intestinal flora that spreads colon cancer so quickly? A detailed analysis identified the culprit. It's the metabolites, toocalled antioxidants, which are found in high concentrations in foods such as black tea, hot chocolate, nuts and berries. Significantly, when the scientists gave mice antioxidant-rich foods, their gut flora accelerated p53's cancer-driving mode. This finding is particularly concerning for patients with a family history of colorectal cancer. Scientifically, this is a new area of research. The authorsof the studywere amazed to see the extent to which the microbiome influences cancer mutations. In some cases it changes its nature completely. So, looking forward, people at high risk of colorectal cancer may need to have their gut flora checked more often and think twice about the foods they digest, antioxidants, and other resources.
